A space shuttle is designed for carrying payloads or satellites into different space orbits. Each space shuttle is a launch system comprising an external tank supplying the liquid oxygen and hydrogen fuel to the main engines, two solid rocket boosters providing the thrust needed for the lift-off of the whole space shuttle, and a satellite, orbiter or payload which has to be placed in a required orbit in the outer space. The space shuttle is designed as a function of the payload that is needed to be put into orbit in space.
During lift-off and ascent, the external tank in the space shuttle supplies the fuel and oxidizer under pressure to the main engines in the space shuttle. In the known prior art, these external tanks comprise two separate tanks, one comprising the liquid oxygen fuel and the other one comprising the liquid hydrogen fuel, such that each of these tanks is joined to the structure of the external tank by means of a metallic structure isolating and damping the vibrations and loads transmitted to the two tanks comprising the liquid fuel. Further developments have been made and the external tanks no longer comprise the mentioned configuration, but the whole external tank is rather divided internally into two chambers, one chamber comprising liquid hydrogen fluid and another one comprising liquid oxygen fuel, both chambers being separated by means of a membrane. This configuration results in the payload in the space shuttle receiving very high loads and vibrations which have been transmitted by the external structure. It is therefore needed to develop a device that is able to properly dampen and isolate the payload from these loads and vibrations. The device that has to be developed must be a device having, at the same time, enough stiffness, flexibility and dampening properties, and this would ideally need to be valid for every space shuttle and for every payload in it.
It is known from the state of the art, as per document U.S. Pat. No. 7,249,756 B1, a mounting system passively damped and isolated from vibrations, comprising a plurality of elements, each element having a very low profile, such that the system that is able to be used in a space shuttle for an application as the one just mentioned. However, the mounting system in U.S. Pat. No. 7,249,756 B1 presents several problems and disadvantages: as the damping and isolation functionalities in each of the elements forming the system are functionally and structurally joined, the design and characterization of these elements has to be made for each single application where the system is going to be used, therefore not allowing an easy and unique design. Besides, the same element configuration cannot be used for different space shuttles and different payloads, but rather need to be redesigned for each particular case. Furthermore, this design would not allow a growth potential and flexibility of redesign as, if for example higher stiffness is required, the element needs to be made wider and the number of elements would prevent this redesign from being placed within the space shuttle structure. Even one more disadvantage of the system in U.S. Pat. No. 7,249,756 B1 would be that it could not be properly used in composite material structures, which are the structures mostly used at present for space applications.
The present invention is intended to solve said disadvantages and limitations in the prior art.